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Woo-hoo! Booked MAUNA LANI Bay Hotel on Big Island for anniversary!!

Woo-hoo! Decision made! I'm delighted that we have booked a room at the Mauna Lani Bay hotel on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. We are celebrating our 30th anniversary in January or February 2012.

We have booked a deluxe ocean view room since the ocean view rooms are all sold out...none available in the package. Any tips on specific requests I could make as far as getting a great romantic room? I think the deluxe ocean view rooms are on the 5th and 6th floor.

Any other tips about delightful spots to walk, eat, explore, or enjoy from the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel? THANKS! We are excited!

We are equally excited about staying at a b&b in Hilo as well...but I will post that as a separate question I guess. We are splitting our stay between Hilo and the Kohala coast. We will have a 4-wheel drive rental car.

If you are at the Mauna Lani on the Saturday closest to the full moon, they have a beautiful free "Talk Story" musical evening out by a historical cottage on the ocean, with local musicians and hula dancers. It's different every time, but whenever I've gone, it's been magical.

The Mauna Lani is my favorite resort. The cultural advisor there is Danny Akaka, the son of the long-time Hawaiian senator. The grounds are beautiful, on historic royal fishponds.

I am based in North Kohala, which is about a 45 minute drive from the Mauna Lani, but this area is gorgeous and charming, and there are several fantastic restaurants in the two tiny towns, Hawi and Kapa'au. (The Bamboo and Sushi Rock are both really good, and there are a few others that are more obscure.) At the end of road is a lookout to a lovely valley, Pololu, and there is a fairly easy hike down to a black sand beach (it's a bit more taxing coming back up).

Because you'll be on the Big Island during whale watching season, this drive up the coast is a wonderful place to spot whales. I recommend taking binoculars. One of my favorite places to watch them is a State Park called Lapakahi, which was an ancient fishing village. It's free but closes at 3:30.

Another amazing place to hike is Pu'ukohola, an impressive heiau (shrine) built by King Kamehameha. This is near Kawaihae (where Waterworld was filmed), close to the Mauna Kea.

There is a lot of history in this area (birthplace of King Kamehameha and the original statue is in Kapa'au).

I would also encourage you to check out the local papers for festivals as the music and dance is really excellent.

Not too far from the Mauna Lani, at Waikoloa King & Queen Shops, there is free entertainment almost every evening including John Keawe, a well known slack key guitarist, and many others.

If the weather is nice, the drive from Hawi to Waimea over the Kohala mountain is breathtaking. Waimea is the home of paniolo (cowboy) culture, and I think it's pretty interesting.

Hi Melissa -
That will be lovely! Our 30th is coming up in June and I'm starting to plan for that.

We spent a couple of wonderful nights in a cottage in Volcano called the Volcano Teapot Cottage. It was a beautifully restored and charming plantation cottage that sits alone on 3 acres of rain forest with lots of birds and near the park. Towards dusk we drove to a place where we could see the lava flow (at a distance!)